The growing work in multi-lingual parsing faces the challenge of fair comparative evaluation and performance analysis across languages and their treebanks. The difficulty lies in teasing apart the properties of treebanks, such as their size or average sentence length, from those of the annotation scheme, and from the linguistic properties of languages. We propose a method to evaluate the effects of word order of a language on dependency parsing performance, while controlling for confounding treebank properties. The method uses artificially-generated treebanks that are minimal permutations of actual treebanks with respect to two word order properties: word order variation and dependency lengths. Based on these artificial data on twelve languages, we show that longer dependencies and higher word order variability degrade parsing performance. Our method also extends to minimal pairs of individual sentences, leading to a finer-grained understanding of parsing errors.


A study was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary yeast derived β-glucan and single-strain probiotics on the growth performance and antibody response in broiler chicks. Six hundred and thirty 1-d-old male broiler chicks were divided into seven groups, placed into three pens per group (30 birds per pen) and fed one of seven non-medicated corn-SBM based experimental diets containing 0.025, 0.05 or 0.1% Saccharomyces cerevisiae β-glucan and 0.05, 0.1 or 0.2% Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (BA-pro, 1.3x10 9 /g) or devoid of them for 5 wk. The body weight gains in groups fed diets containing 0.025 or 0.1% β-glucan, 0.1% or 0.2% BA-pro were significantly higher (p<0.05) than the control over 1-35 d. Feed conversion rates of groups fed β-glucan and BA-pro tended to be improved compared to the control group. There were no significant differences in the relative weights of liver, abdominal fat and breast muscle. No significant differences were observed in the activities of serum enzymes and concentrations of various cholesterol fractions. The antibody titers against Newcastle disease or infectious bronchitis virus in the chicks fed diets containing β-glucan and BA-pro were significantly higher (p<0.05) than in the control. The concentrations of cecal lactic acid bacteria in all groups fed BA-pro were significantly increased (p<0.05) compared to the control. These results indicated that dietary yeast derived β-glucan and BA-pro exerted growth-promoting and immune-enhancing effects in broiler chickens. In addition, BA-pro added to the diets modulated the profiles of cecal microflora, reflecting a potential to be beneficial microorganisms in chickens.


Objective To investigate the cost-effectiveness of ramucirumab plus erlotinib compared with placebo plus erlotinib in the first-line setting for patients with EGFR-mutated metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (mNSCLC) from the Chinese healthcare system perspective. Design A Markov model consisting of three health states using clinical survival data from the RELAY phase III randomised clinical trial, a lifetime horizon for costs and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) was constructed to analyse the cost-effectiveness of ramucirumab plus erlotinib. One-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were performed to evaluate the robustness of the model. Additional price reduction scenario analyses were performed. Setting The Chinese healthcare system perspective. Participants A hypothetical Chinese cohort of patients with confirmed previously documented ex19del or Leu858Arg mutation stage IV NSCLC, and without known epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) Thr790Met mutation and central nervous system metastases. Interventions Ramucirumab plus erlotinib versus placebo plus erlotinib. Primary outcome measure Costs, QALYs, incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER). Results In base-case analysis, ramucirumab plus erlotinib yield an additional 4.21 QALYs at a cost of $540 590, resulting in an ICER of $128 302/QALY. In price reduction scenario analysis, the ICER ($65 227/QALY) was decreased significantly when the National Reimbursement Drug List (NRDL) negotiation was available for ramucirumab, and the ICER ($131 554/QALY) was increased slightly when the NRDL negotiation was unavailable for erlotinib. Sensitivity analyses demonstrated our results to be most sensitive to the unit cost of ramucirumab (10 mg/kg), and more than 52.1% reduction in the price of ramucirumab resulted in the ICER under the willingness-to-pay threshold set for affluent regions ($70 353/QALY). Conclusions Ramucirumab plus erlotinib is unlikely to be cost-effective for patients with untreated EGFR-mutated mNSCLC in China. Reducing the price of ramucirumab through the National Healthcare Security Administration negotiation was found to be the most realistic action to improve cost-effectiveness.


ABSTRACT This article presents a modified ant colony systems approach, which allows reduction of the computational effort needed to converge to the optimal solution of a given engineering problem. The proposed algorithm is applied to the evaluation of the plastic load and failure modes of planar frames. The approach is based on the generation of elementary collapse mechanisms and on their linear combination, aimed at minimizing the collapse load factor. Many applications have been performed on frames of different sizes subjected to seismic load scenarios, i.e. permanent vertically distributed and variable concentrated forces at each floor. The values of the collapse load obtained with the proposed algorithm have been compared with those obtained by means of other optimization algorithms and nonlinear pushover analysis. An extended performance comparison between the proposed procedure and standard ant colony system algorithms shows the expected improvements in terms of a great reduction in the computational effort.


Background: The approach to nursing should be characterized by a holistic view of the human being which includes sexual health. From a nursing perspective, it is therefore of most importance to have a dialogue about factors associated with sexual health also among hospitalized patients. However, to our knowledge there is a lack of qualitative studies regarding nurses attitudes about dialogue with patients about sexual health.
Objective: To investigate nurses attitudes towards dialogue with hospitalized patients about sexual health.
Methods: A qualitative method was used and interviews were conducted which then were analyzed using a qualitative content analysis. Eleven registered nurses were included, the inclusion criteria was: at least one year of experience as a nurse and working on a medical or surgical ward in a hospital in the southwest of Sweden. The participants were in the ages 25-65 and had worked as nurses between 2 and 30 years. Nine of the participants were women. The data were collected during 2011.
Results: The nurses experiences of and reflections on dialogue with patients about sexual health were presented as a single main theme: Nurses challenges to support hospitalized patients with sexual health issues. This theme had three categories: Feeling uncomfortable, Feeling inadequate and Task-oriented care with related subcategories respectively.
Conclusions: Nurses attitudes towards their dialogues about sexual health with hospitalized patients were less challenging if they were initiated by the patients or if the patients were men with medical causes related to sexual health. Lack of knowledge and support from colleagues became reasons why nurses felt inadequate about discussing sexual health with their patients.


Nursing is a physically active profession; however, nurses and nursing support staff may limit their physical activity (PA) on non-workdays. The purpose of this pilot study was to examine the effects of a 12-week pedometer-based PA intervention on daily steps of hospital nursing and support staff from two departments, emergency (ED) and oncology (ONC). The 12-week minimal-contact, self-managed intervention was designed to increase total and non-workday PA. Twenty participants with an average age of 47.6 ± 7.1 years completed the intervention. Significant differences were found between total daily steps at baseline (8,446) and at 12 weeks (10,655; p = .014), and between workday steps at baseline (10,398) and at 12 weeks (13,056; p = 0.005). Oncology unit participants significantly increased their non-workday steps from baseline (5,850) to 12 weeks (9,829; p = .003). As part of a comprehensive intervention, pedometers can promote total and non-workday PA of nursing and support staff.


Building on multiple theoretical perspectives, we examined how organizational culture moderates the association of different dimensions of Internet-enabled Supply Chain Integration (i.e., online information integration and operational coordination) and firm performance (i.e., customer service and financial performance). We tested hypotheses using survey data from senior executives in China. Our findings reveal that an internally focused culture weakens the effects of online information integration on customer service performance, whereas it strengthens the influences of online operational coordination. Further, an externally focused culture weakens the effects of online operational coordination on customer service performance too. In addition, the results indicate that customer service can directly improve financial performance, and partially mediate the relationship between online information integration and financial performance. Theoretical contributions and managerial implications of the study are discussed.


We present models for the interstellar medium in disk galaxies. In particular, we investigate whether the ISM in low surface brightness galaxies can support a significant fraction of molecular gas given their low metallicity and surface density. It is found that the abundance and line brightness of CO in LSB galaxies is small and typically below current observational limits. Still, depending on physical details of the ISM, the fraction of gas in the form of molecular hydrogen can be significant in the inner few kiloparsecs of a low surface brightness galaxy. This molecular gas would be at temperatures of ~30-50 K, rather higher than in high surface brightness galaxies. These results may help explain the star-forming properties and inferred evolutionary history of LSB galaxies.


In this paper, we propose a theoretical physical lumped parameter model for the mixing process in plasticizing self-wiping twin screw extruders using a combination of statistical techniques and mechanistic modelling. The model describes the response of the extruder to input signals of feed rate and screw speed in the time domain via residence time density distribution (RTD). It is shown that the RTD refers to the impulse response of the extruder to input signals. Parameters of the RTD function are estimated by developing predictive models of the mean residence time and mean time delay by way of mechanistic modelling, taking into consideration the flow behavior during the plasticizing process and its interaction with the screw configuration. Analyses show that the evolution of the mixing process is dependent on the feed rate (Q) and screw speed (N) combination, with the feed rate having a greater impact in changing the shape of the RTD curve. The process is optimized by determining the variance of the material distribution in the extruder. The model is presented in the form of an impulse response function f(t) in the time domain suitable for the design of a controller.


Abstract Objective To create clinical normative data tables for Norwegian patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders, to examine whether clinical normative data from Norway differs from similar normative data from Canada and the U.S., and to illustrate the usefulness of such data. Method A nationally representative sample of 335 patients from psychiatric hospitals in Bergen, Norway was included. Inclusion criteria were 18–39 years of age, Norwegian as first language, and symptoms of schizophrenia, psychosis, or hallucinations. Comorbid substance abuse was recorded in 134 (40.0%). All completed the Norwegian version of the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS). Results The average scores of patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders were approximately one to two standard deviations below the mean for healthy adults. There were no significant differences in scores between patients with or without comorbid substance abuse. Men had higher scores than women. Clinical normative reference value look-up tables were created. Conclusions Clinical normative values were very similar to values from Canada and the U.S. Clinical normative data, as a supplement to standard healthy normative data, can be used to describe patients' cognitive performance in terms of expectation for their peer group which can be useful for multidisciplinary treatment planning.


In this experiment, nano carbon material was synthesized with nebulized spray pyrolysis method using palm oil. The catalyst used in this study was ferrocene with a concentration of 0.015 g/ml; 0,020 g/ml; and 0.025 g/ml. The catalyst was contacted with carbon precursors using floating catalyst method. The carrier gas used in this study was nitrogen gas at a rate of 1.21 sccm. Nebulized process was conducted for 30 minutes with an operating temperature of 650°C; 700°C; 750°C; 800°C; 850°C; and 900°C. In this study, nano carbon material was synthesized by deposition directly on the walls of the tube / stainless steel reactor so no need a substrate as a growth medium carbon nano. The characteristics of nano carbon material was analyzed by several methods, such as SEM, EDS and XRD. The XRD analysis of carbon sample synthesized at 0.025 g/ml catalyst and all variations of temperature showed the presence of the C (002) and C (100) peak indicated a graphitic structures. From SEM observation, it can be seen that the structure of carbon nano spheres were found at temperature of 700°C and mixtures of nanotubes and nanospheres were established at temperature above 800°C.


Abstract: In this study, feedback linearization (FL) for 6R manipulator is designed, simulated and implemented. The presented input-output FL controller has achieved the desired performance for the complicated nonlinear terms in the arm"s dynamic equations. Simulations were used to test the performance of the controller for point-to-point motion as well as continuous trajectory. The results of the point-to-point motion simulations and experiments were compared, where it indicates that the proposed approach preserved smooth motion in a very short process time with good accuracy. The dynamic load carrying capacity (DLCC), which is a criterion to determine FL controller performance on 6R robot, is also investigated, bas d on saturated torque of the motors and allowable error bounds. Moreover, it was shown that the control law is able to accurately represent closedloop equations and simultaneously imposed desirable behavior on 6R robot.


A three-dimensional, non-linear, baroclinic model is described and tested for the first time to study the residual circulation and the thermohaline distribution of the Ria de Vigo (NW Spain) at short time scales and under different wind stress regimes. Two markedly different realistic scenarios were chosen: northerly upwelling-favourable winds and southerly downwelling-favourable winds. The numerical experiments carried out indicate that the hydrodynamic regime of the Ria de Vigo is mostly a consequence of wind events. As could be expected, moderately strong North winds reinforce the normal (positive) Ria circulation, while winds blowing from the South, when sufficiently strong, reverse the typical circulation pattern and reduce the characteristic outgoing velocities and the flushing time inside the Ria. The temperature and salinity fields generated by the model in both situations were compared with observations and found to be in qualitatively good agreement, supporting the 3D velocity field distribution.


The authors conducted a cross-sectional study of 895 never-smoking female textile workers, aged 20-40 years, employed in three cotton textile mills in Anhui Province, China, to assess the association of self-reported occupational stress with dysmenorrhea. Stress was assessed by means of a questionnaire incorporated into a larger, general health survey of textile workers. Dysmenorrhea was defined as abdominal/pelvic pain during menses. Proportions of no/low, moderate, and high levels of occupationally-related emotional stress among all the subjects were 56%, 23%, and 21%, respectively. The overall prevalence of dysmenorrhea in the population was 59.7%. The adjusted odds ratios of dysmenorrhea for women who had moderate and high levels of occupational stress relative to those with low levels were 1.6 (95% CI:1.1-2.2) and 2.3 (95% CI:1.6-3.4), suggesting an exposure-response relationship. The estimated odds ratio based on assigned scores (0, 1, and 2 assigned for no/low, moderate, and high degrees of occupational stress) was 1.5 (95% CI:1.3-1.8). In the analyses stratified by the mills and the women's job titles, a positive association was found in all groups. The association remained significant (OR = 1.6, 95% CI:1.3-2.0) when the analysis was restricted to those women with only one reported livebirth pregnancy. The findings suggest that high degrees of occupational stress predispose female textile workers to dysmenorrhea.


The current consensus is that indolent lymphomas are incurable disorders. There are some indications that these malignancies are potentially curable. Indeed, not all indolent lymphomas are currently incurable. For example, patients with Ann Arbor stage I-II indolent lymphomas can experience long-term disease-free survival and probable cure. Also, from the available literature data, it seems that the achievement of a molecular complete remission is a desirable objective. Patients who achieve a persistently negative PCR state seldom relapse, whereas the opposite is true for persistently positive cases. In view of its excellent correlation with disease-free survival when examined serially in multiple blood or marrow samples, the PCR technique has the potential of providing a tumor marker that can be used as an early end point for clinical trials. By serving as an early surrogate end point, PCR could play an important role in expediting the development of new treatment strategies. Whether IFN is capable of increasing the molecular complete remission rate as measured by PCR is not known. However, it is clear that from the clinical standpoint, IFN has been able to increase 2-fold the length of remission in patients with advanced indolent lymphomas. In at least two studies, this has been associated with prolongation of survival. More intensive regimens such as alternating triple therapy, when used in combination with IFN, seem to have improved the quality of remissions as judged by the PCR assay. Finally, the site where the bcl-2 breakpoint occurs seems to have clinical significance. Those follicular lymphomas with germ-line bcl-2, in our experience, have behaved more aggressively than the others, and their failure-free survival seems different from the usual indolent lymphomas and more closely resembles the large cell lymphomas. Although the biological significance of this observation is not yet understood, this group might actually constitute a prognostically different subset with a more aggressive and perhaps more curable lymphoma. Whether the plateau observed in their failure-free survival curve will be maintained with more follow-up and whether they might be a curable subset remain to be determined.


Recent work has shown that the end-to-end approach using convolutional neural network (CNN) is effective in various types of machine learning tasks. For audio signals, the approach takes raw waveforms as input using an 1-D convolution layer. In this paper, we improve the 1-D CNN architecture for music auto-tagging by adopting building blocks from state-of-the-art image classification models, ResNets and SENets, and adding multi-level feature aggregation to it. We compare different combinations of the modules in building CNN architectures. The results show that they achieve significant improvements over previous state-of-the-art models on the MagnaTagATune dataset and comparable results on Million Song Dataset. Furthermore, we analyze and visualize our model to show how the 1-D CNN operates.


Is it possible and desirable to separate between science and pseudo science, between archaeology and pseudo archaeology? And should archaeologists igonore, understand or criticise pseudo archaeology? My experiences from the study of four traditions within the field of "sacred topographies" show, that it is rather difficult or even impossible to separate archaeology from pseudo archaeology. In the spirit of Karl R. Popper and his critical rationalism I conclude, that archaeology should welcome all kinds of ideas, which then ought to be seriously examined.


Through the Art + Oceans process, both authors explored the complexity and immensity of the relatively unknown world beneath the waves. By focusing on a small area in Otago Harbour, this project enabled Becky to expand her artistic investigations as she looked beyond her more traditional work on the land and began to consider the marine environment. Emily  found that the collaboration served as a useful reminder that each field trial she undertakes will add to the progression of her marine mapping project, that multiple angles should be considered and that these may be combined in ways yet unrealised. For both of authors, this collaboration added a new dimension to their ongoing investigations in the ocean.


Enclosures: See No. 1262-1264. Has heard indirectly through John Gunther Messersmith is well; saw Gunther in Brussels and Geneva; imagines Messersmith watching trend of events with apprehension; knows Messersmith's dislike of Britain's too great willingness for appeasement and his concern at home over neutrality bill; continued gaining of strength of democratic countries encouraging; Hitler doesn't want war, but takes English appeasement efforts as cowardice and he may miscalculate Britain as his predecessors did in 1914; hopes England will not compromise on Danzig as this would assure Germany an undisturbed supply of iron ore from Sweden.


The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a Buddy Reading Program on reading levels and attitudes towards reading. A Buddy Reading Program is a type of peertutoring strategy that can be used across various grade levels spanning from kindergarten through grade 12. As defined in this project, a Buddy Reading Program pairs older students with younger students in a language arts setting. The older students prepare a short reading lesson and tutor the younger students in hopes of improving reading success. This study took place using a control group of one kindergarten class of 18 students and 12 randomly selected grade seven students. The experimental group consisted of the second kindergarten class (18 students) and the remainder of the grade seven students (12 students) at Abbotsford Christian School, Heritage Campus. The grade seven students who were part of the Buddy Reading Program were assigned to one or two kindergarten children and spent time reading books and teaching the kindergarten students short language arts lessons. All the kindergarten students were tested before and after the length of the program using a letter and sounds identification test and the Elementary Reading Attitudes Survey (The Reading Teacher, 1990). The grade seven students were tested before and after the Buddy Reading Program using the John's Reading Inventory and Word List (2001), and a reading attitudes survey developed by the researcher. Results showed only statistically significant improvements in the grade seven word lists. Other results including reading level and attitudes towards reading for the kindergarten children were not statistically significant. Minor improvements in reading levels and attitudes towards reading were evident in the grade seven students who participated in the program, but these improvements were not statistically significant. Document Type Thesis Degree Name Master of Education (MEd) Department Graduate Education


Abstract Primary and nonprimary cerebral cortex mature along different timescales; however, the differences between the rates of maturation of primary and nonprimary cortex are unclear. Cortical maturation can be measured through changes in tissue microstructure detectable by diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In this study, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was used to characterize the maturation of Heschl's gyrus (HG), which contains both primary auditory cortex (pAC) and nonprimary auditory cortex (nAC), in 90 preterm infants between 26 and 42 weeks postmenstrual age (PMA). The preterm infants were in different acoustical environments during their hospitalization: 46 in open ward beds and 44 in single rooms. A control group consisted of 15 term-born infants. Diffusion parameters revealed that (1) changes in cortical microstructure that accompany cortical maturation had largely already occurred in pAC by 28 weeks PMA, and (2) rapid changes were taking place in nAC between 26 and 42 weeks PMA. At term equivalent PMA, diffusion parameters for auditory cortex were different between preterm infants and term control infants, reflecting either delayed maturation or injury. No effect of room type was observed. For the preterm group, disturbed maturation of nonprimary (but not primary) auditory cortex was associated with poorer language performance at age two years.


Many large-scale systems benefit from an organizational structure to provide for problem decomposition. A pivotal problem solving setting is given by hierarchical control systems familiar from hierarchical task networks. If these structures can be modified autonomously by, e.g., Coalition formation and reconfiguration, adequate decisions on higher levels require a faithful abstracted model of a collective of agents. An illustrative example is found in calculating schedules for a set of power plants organized in a hierarchy of Autonomous Virtual Power Plants. Functional dependencies over the combinatorial domain, such as the joint costs or rates of change of power production, are approximated by repeatedly sampling input-output pairs and substituting the actual functions by piecewise linear functions. However, if the sampled data points are weakly informative, the resulting abstracted high-level optimization introduces severe errors. Furthermore, obtaining additional point labels amounts to solving computationally hard optimization problems. Building on prior work, we propose to apply techniques from active learning to maximize the information gained by each additional point. Our results show that significantly better allocations in terms of cost-efficiency (up to 33.7 % reduction in costs in our case study) can be found with fewer but carefully selected sampling points using Decision Forests.


Internet protocol standards have been slow to adopt formal protocol description languages and methodologies, and are still largely written as English prose. This makes it hard to check them for correctness, or to automatically derive implementations from standards. Reasons for this are both technical and social. Some methodologies effectively describe complex communication patterns, but cannot model protocol data. Others are unnecessarily tied to particular description formats, or use unfamiliar concepts and terminology, and don't address usability by standards developers. We assess the viability of existing approaches to modelling and parsing protocol data, and identify missing features needed to represent emerging protocols. We present a typed protocol representation that can describe: (i) the format of protocol data, including data-dependent formats; (ii) contextual information needed to maintain parser state, where correct parsing may depend on out-of-band information or prior packets; and (iii) transformations and helper functions needed for multi-stage parsing. We discuss social barriers to adoption, and describe a set of principles to encourage use of formal languages within the Internet standards process. We show how to integrate our approach with the existing standards process, using QUIC as an example.


Our recent reprocessing and reinterpretation for seismic refraction/wide-angle reflection data in eastern Kii Peninsula, SW Japan, provided new structural information on the uppermost part of the subducted Philippine Sea (PHS) plate and overriding the SW Japan arc, including the landward reflectivity variation in the vicinity of the plate boundary and the large scale structural change within the SW Japan arc. The Kii peninsula is located in the eastern part of the well-known seismogenic zone developed along the Nankai trough. The plate boundary beneath this peninsula is in the stable or conditionally stable regime except for its southernmost tip, the northwestern end of the rupture area at the last event (1944 Tonankai earthquake (M7.9)). The surface geology of the overriding SW Japan arc is divided to two parts by the E-W trending Median Tectonic Line (MTL), the most prominent tectonic boundary in SW Japan. South of the MTL, Cretaceous-Jurassic accretionary complexes are exposed, whose northernmost unit consists of high P-T metamorphic rocks (the Sanbagawa metamorphic belt (SMB)). The region north of the MTL, on the other hand, is occupied by older accretionary complexes, partly suffered from the Cretaceous magmatic intrusions. Our seismic data from five dynamite shots were acquired in 2006 along 80-km line almost perpendicular to the Nankai trough. The structure of the SW Japan arc was obtained both from intensive wide-angle reflection analysis and advanced reflection processing by seismic interferometry technique. The former analysis delineated clear structural change in the uppermost crust across the MTL. In the latter processing, we retrieved virtual shot records at 512 receiver points from free-surface backscattered waves by the deconvolution interferometry. The subsequent CRS (Common Reflection Surface)/MDRS (Multi-Dip Reflection Surfaces) methods provided an enhanced image within the island arc, including a northward dipping reflector band just south of the MTL. This reflection band, about 10-15 km thick, includes the SMB, extending from 2-10 km to 25-35 km depth. The MTL itself is recognized as the uppermost part of this band inclining northward to a depth of nearly 25 km. In the reflection processing, the PHS plate is well imaged as northward dipping reflectors in a depth range of 20-35 km beneath the southern half of our profile. The wide-angle reflection analysis delineated lateral reflectivity change along the plate boundary. A thin (less than 1 km) low velocity (3.5~5km/s) layer is situated at the top of the PHS plate under the southernmost part of the profile, namely, the trenchward half of the conditionally stable zone. In the central part of the profile (the landward half of the conditionally stable zone), strong reflectors with 2-3 km/s velocity contrast are distributed in a diffused manner at 30-35 km depths, around which low frequency earthquakes are occurring. Such reflective signature fades out to the north, approaching to stable regime region. The obtained lateral structural change are well correlated with the frictional properties of the plate boundary, probably controlled by the dehydration process within the PHS plate.


Three patients with lung cancer, a man aged 68, a woman aged 69 and a man aged 52, denied the nature or the severity of their disease in three different ways: temporary denial to evade acute emotional shock, full-blown persistent denial, and unjustified optimism respectively. The psychological mechanism of denial may become operational in patients confronted with an overwhelming disease. A less pronounced denial of medical information provided by physicians can be recognised in many patients. It may also be noticed in how individuals or groups of people sharing the same unbearable reality face up to the facts. Denial may be helpful in (temporarily) circumventing a serious problem but when the disease is serious, it may interfere in relationships with partners, relatives and friends. Denial must be differentiated from organicity, e.g. anosognosia in cerebral damage, by patient ignorance, or by vague communication from the medical community. A direct and blunt confrontation of denial may result in adverse effects due to a defensive mechanism being aggravated. Slowly providing the patient with pieces of information whilst taking into account his or her reaction, may provide a clue for gradual conformation to the medical reality.


We explore and evaluate the usefulness of semantic annotation, particularly semantic relations, in cross-language information retrieval in the medical domain. As the baseline for automatic semantic annotation we use UMLS, which specifies semantic relations between medical concepts. We developed two methods to improve the accuracy and yield of relations in CLIR: a method for relation filtering and a method to discover new relation instances. Both techniques were applied to a corpus of English and German medical abstracts and evaluated for their efficiency in CLIR.
Results show that filtering reduces recall without significant increase in precision, while discovery of new relation instances indeed proved a successful method to improve retrieval.


The textbook is currently one of the main instruments in the process of education and learning. Analyses of the Biology content in these books are essential in order to show problems contained in these publications and allow a more informed choice of books for the teaching of specific contents. In this work, an analysis of the Paleontology content in Biology textbooks was carried out, aiming to evaluate the reability of the presentation of paleontological topics in secondary school books and to provide crucial information for the choice of better texts for use in biology classes regarding the subject of Paleontology. Five Biology textbooks currently adopted in Brazilian secondary schools were chosen for the analysis. Among the textbooks analyzed, four presented a satisfactory approach to paleontological themes, including detailed descriptions of the main topics and reasonable presentations of key concepts. However, pervasive conceptual errors were found. Moreover, we found that new concepts and approaches currently adopted by the scientific community have been scarcely incorporated in these publications. Therefore, we highlight the need to update the books analyzed based on more recent paleontological textbooks, as well as a better articulation between paleontological and correlated biological concepts. In addition, we suggest an improvement in the explanations of complex issues, such as "fossil dating" and "fossilization processes".


In the early days of the development of Islam, of course, systematic formal education had not been established. The ongoing education can be said to be informal; and this is also more related to the efforts of Islamic da'wah to spread and plant the basics of Islamic belief and worship. In this connection it is understandable why the process of Islamic education first occurred at the home of a certain friend of the Prophet SAW; the most famous is Dar al-Arqam. However, when the Islamic community was formed, education was held in the mosque. The educational process in both places is carried out in the learning circle. Every time Islam is introduced to any place, it is always introduced along with religious education while at the same time Arabic is always the medium of its teaching. That is why the desire to study Islam and its lingua-franca (Arabic) is always very high among Muslims. This also explains the nature of Arabic and Islamic studies which are inseparable as twin courses which are always in line with each other. The results of empirical investigations understand the character of Muslim subjectivity finding the most useful Qur'anic reading, because they discover how the vision of dynamic education and transformative pedagogy defines the content, composition and communication style of Islamic Divine discourse. This brought various scientific innovations and produced Islamic inventors from madrasas, but after the sixteenth century, the madrasa curriculum became trapped in traditional Islamic sciences, there was a close connection to this fact and the decline of the Ottoman Empire, on occasions that different. the effect of the Mongol invasion of the Muslim world that weakened the spirit of Muslims. the Muslim world collapsed and stagnated. Apart from the two things above, Often, innovative new approaches are dismissed as attempts to damage or damage Muslim discursive traditions or worse, are considered conspiracies hatched by Orientalists and carried out by Muslim clerics who are deceitful and fickle


Agent architectures and parallelization are, with a few exceptions, rarely to encounter in traditional automated theorem proving systems. This situation is motivating our ongoing work in the higher-order theorem prover Leo-III . In contrast to its predecessor – the well established prover LEO-II – and most other modern provers, Leo-III is designed from the very beginning for concurrent proof search. The prover features a multiagent blackboard architecture for reasoning agents to cooperate and to parallelize proof construction on the term, clause and search level.


The influence of distance of transportation and stunning method on rabbil carcass and meat quality was verified using 100 hybrid Provisal rabbits, who came from two inlensive farms, 400 and 15 km from the commercial slaughtering house. Rabbits from each farm were divided into five groups and subjected to electric stunning by alternating current with relative combinations of voltage (45 vs 80 volts) and amperage (2.5 vs 8 amperes), or by cervical dislocation (control). The distance of transportation affected the carcass quality, mainly just after slaughtering: longissimus lumborum (1.1.) and biceps femoris (b.f.) muscles had higher initial pH values (6.85 vs 6.41, 1.1; 7.04 vs 6.63, b.f.), and an unpleasant red (a*= 24.2 vs 20.1, I.I.; 19.3 vs 18.3, b.f.) and dark colour (L *= 44.3 vs 61.4, I.I; 41.1 vs 60.4, b.f.). After 24 h the differences in pH and lightness were reduced while those of redness became more evident (17.6 vs 9.2, I.I.; 15.1 vs 5.9, b.f.). In longer transported animals the I.I. muscle had a higher moisture content (76.6 vs 74.7%) and drip loss (2.3 vs 1.7%), but cooking loss was lower (28.9 vs 32.0%), because water holding capacity was higher (65.4 vs 62.9%). The shear force was higher (4.0 vs 3.5 kg/cm2). The effect of stunning method was not relevant, low voltage, independent of amperage, showed a significant effect only on initial pH (6.73 and 6.80 vs 6.54 and 6.6, I.I.; 6.97 and 6.96 vs 6.78 and 6.77, b.f.).


The public administration reforms contained in the Public Service Act 1999 (Cth), Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 (Cth) and Commonwealth Authorities and Companies Act 1997 (Cth) apparently devolve 'responsibility' to Agency Heads, Chief Executives and Directors respectively. This article surveys these framework legal arrangements applying to the executive and then documents the formal involvement of Ministers to assess the notions of responsible government and ministerial responsibility. The article concludes that the real and practical advance of devolution in the public administration reforms has been to distinguish between the spheres of activities of Ministers and public servants. As a consequence, there is a more nuanced understanding of responsible government and ministerial responsibility. It is seen that the 'responsibilities' of Ministers are separated from those of Agency Heads/Chief Executives/Directors, albeit the Ministers remain the conduit between the executive and the Parliament.


Technology is advancing rapidly and the demand and expectation is getting higher, that current monolithic client-server and peer-to-peer e-learning systems can no longer tolerate. Distributed e-learning systems, on the other hand, have the potential to address many shortcomings of current e-learning systems. Distributed systems are mainly based on Web-services or alternatively the Grid. The purpose of this paper is to define a novel distributed e-learning architecture based on multi-agents and intelligent distributed blackboards. The proposed architecture employs the Web-services approach of distributed e-learning systems in a scalable and flexible manner, utilizing a wealth of e-learning content and services in existing on-line learning repositories and intelligently personalizing it to the particular needs of the learners, through the use of multi-agents. Distributed intelligent blackboards, on the other hand, allows the efficient and seamless communication and collaboration among the various distributed agents.


Results: The incidence rate of malformed fetuses was 22.54% in our study group. The ultrasound detection rate was 79.02% (1062/1344). Level III prenatal ultrasound were of great value in decreasing the abortion rate of ≥ 28 gestational weeks malformed fetuses, improving malformations detection rate. The differences of the above rates between before and after level III prenatal ultrasound were of scientific value, P < 0.05. Conclusions: Level III prenatal ultrasound is important in prenatal diagnosis. It is of great help in decreasing the birth rate of malformed fetuses.


Physics Informed Neural Networks (PINNs) have demonstrated remarkable success 1 in learning complex physical processes such as shocks and turbulence, but their 2 applicability has been limited due to long training times. In this work, we explore 3 the potential of large batch size training to save training time and improve final 4 accuracy in PINNs. We show that conclusions about generalization gap brought by 5 large batch size training on image classification tasks may not be compatible with 6 PINNs. We conclude that larger batch sizes always beneficial to training PINNs. 7


Knowledge of the physical properties of sesame (Sesamun indicum L.) is necessary for the design of equipment for harvesting, transporting, sorting, cleaning, separating, crushing, extracting, and processing it for use in different food products. In this study, the effects of different moisture contents on the physical properties of two sesame mutants, cc6 and cc7, were investigated at three (8.1, 12.3, and 15.8% w.b) moisture contents. At moisture contents from 8.1 to 15.8% w.b., the length, width, thickness, and geometric mean diameter of the cc6 sesame mutants varied from 21.00 to 23.80 mm, 6.54 to 7.99 mm, 5.2 to 6.00 mm, and 8.89 to 10.45 mm, respectively. In the cc7 sesame mutants, the length, width, thickness, and geometric mean diameter were found to be 22.17 to 24.78 mm, 7.12 to 7.80 mm, 5.15 to 6.30 mm, and 9.33 to 10.83 mm, respectively, within the same moisture range. Increased moisture content of the sesame mutant's capsules resulted in their terminal velocity increasing from 4.72 to 5.27 m/s. The static and dynamic coefficients of friction were measured at the different moisture contents on three different surfaces, and results varied between 0.446–0.528 and 0.436–0.498, respectively, for the two mutants. The rupture force of the sesame capsules was measured in the horizontal and vertical planes. All rupture forces decreased with increased moisture content of the shell. However, the rupture force of capsules increased above 12.3% w.b moisture content. Analysis of variance was carried out on two closed capsule sesame varieties, and differences between the mean values were investigated by Duncan's test.


OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated the influence of orthodontic appliances on smile esthetics assessed by lay adolescents, lay adults and orthodontists. METHODS: A facial photograph of a smiling young woman was used under the following conditions: With metal orthodontic brackets ligated by different elastic ligature colors (green, red and gray), with ceramic bracket brackets (transparent elastic ligature) and without brackets, totaling five 15 x 20 cm pictures. For the photograph assessment, 16 lay adolescents, 16 lay adults and 16 orthodontists were randomly selected. The photographs were randomly arranged in an album, followed by a visual analog scale (VAS) for the scores registration. Scores in both evaluations of each group of evaluators (adolescents, adults and orthodontists) were submitted to error analysis by WILCOXON test and multiple comparison among groups performed by Kruskal - Wallis at 5% significance. RESULTS: Orthodontists, adults and adolescents agreed in their opinions, although the orthodontists gave lower scores in their assessments. It could be observed that ceramic brackets were more acceptable concerning the smile esthetics, whereas the metal brackets received the lowest scores. CONCLUSION: Orthodontists, adults and even adolescents seem to prefer esthetic solutions during orthodontic treatment.


The central focus of this paper is the authors' experiences developing an online program to assist students improve their academic writing and referencing skills in response to increasingly poor levels of student expression and quality of submitted work. The ten modules provide students with access to theory on the process and skills required in preparing tertiary level assignments and then the opportunity to practice these skills. Sociocultural and constructivist theory underpin the structure of the online program. As writers and developers familiar with academic processes we engaged with a discourse with each other and more capable others to learn new skills particularly with respect to WebCT. This was a complex process characterised by role switching so that there was not an ongoing distinct demarcation of novice and expert.


An introduction to the principles of membrane transport: How molecules and ions move across the cell membrane by simple diffusion and by making use of specialized membrane components (channels, carriers, and pumps). The text emphasizes the quantitative aspects of such movement and its interpretation in terms of transport kinetics. Molecular studies of channels, carriers, and pumps are described in detail as well as structural principles and the fundamental similarities between the various transporters and their evolutionary interrelationships. The regulation of transporters and their role in health and disease are also considered. * Provides an introduction to the properties of transport proteins: channels, carriers, and pumps* Presents up-to-date information on the structure of transport proteins and on their function and regulation* Includes introductions to transport kinetics and to the cloning of genes that code transport proteins* Furnishes a link between the experimental basis of the subject and theoretical model building


ABSTRACT Despite Burkina Faso's emergence as a strong player in terrorism activity in Africa, the country is practically overlooked by Critical Terrorism Studies scholarship. This article is framed at the intersection of Critical Terrorism Studies and Postcolonialism, investigating how a "critical" examination of the terrorism situation in Burkina Faso could advance our knowledge of terrorism in Africa. In-depth interviews were conducted with senior military officers and security practitioners in and out of Burkina Faso. These interviews, together with political speeches and media reports, were analysed using Critical Discourse Analysis. The study found a bifurcated counterterrorism policy in Burkina Faso with overdependence on "sticks" approaches, yet without the funds or morale to implement them. This is, however, not unique to Burkina Faso, as countries like Nigeria and Kenya have also struggled with the ineffective use of force to tackle terrorism violence. The article argues that the Western-centric post-9/11 global discourse on terrorism transposed and patronised a kind of uncritical terrorism knowledge to African spaces, effectively contributing to the lack of progress in addressing the incessant violence. It recommends to African policy makers to rethink counterterrorism from African philosophical standpoints, view preponderant terrorism knowledge more critically, and adopt context-specific measures against terrorism violence.


Abstract: Intrigued by the rapid clearance of free fetal DNA from the maternal circulation, we have investigated whether this fetal genetic material could be cleared via the kidney. For this purpose, we examined for the presence of Y chromosome‐specific DNA sequences in urine samples obtained from 8 women pregnant with male fetuses. No male‐specific sequences could be detected, despite the use of a very sensitive nested PCR assay nor a highly reproducible real‐time PCR assay. We did, however, detect maternal DNA sequences. To determine if this cell‐free DNA was derived from the kidney or another source, we next examined urine from female kidney transplant patients who had received male kidneys. Y chromosome‐specific sequences were indeed detectable by both nested and real‐time PCR in these samples, thereby confirming a recent report describing urinary DNA microchimerism. Quantitative analysis of serially obtained samples furthermore suggests that transplant‐derived sequences are elevated during periods of graft rejection. These results imply that the measurement of graft‐derived urinary DNA may serve as a new marker for kidney graft tolerance.


Background: correct corticotomy is essential in limb lengthening and deformity correction by distraction osteogenesis. Currently a variety of corticotomy /osteotomy techniques are used but do not make enough confidence about preserving endosteal circulation and avoidance of periosteal damage. We introduce a new simple and efficient corticotomy method in this paper.
Methods: This study was undertaken in Mashhad Medical University-Iran from June 1995 till September 2009. In 22 patients (24 limbs) who was candidate for limb lengthening with or without correction of deformity, simultaneous corticotomy was performed by a new method which we explain it descriptively in this paper.
Results: There was not any premature consolidation. 19 limbs had radiologic callus formation at the end of 3rd week and in all of our patients at the End of 4th week. Patient functional scores and analogue satisfaction scores were better in post traumatic limb shortening and deformities in comparison to congenital disorders.
Conclusion: Corticotomy with this new method is a simple, more confident and predictable one which can prevent undesirable bone cracks and preserve both periosteum and endosteum.


BACKGROUND
Leptin, the protein product of the ob gene, is produced by the adipocyte and seems to function as a link between adiposity, satiety, and activity. Leptin has also been found to be necessary for pubertal development, conception, and pregnancy in mice, and is increased in prepubertal children, independent of adiposity, suggesting a role in childhood growth and development. This study investigated 100 mother/newborn pairs to determine the role of leptin in neonatal development. Placental tissue was assayed for leptin mRNA to evaluate it as a source of leptin production in utero.

METHODS
One hundred mother/newborn pairs were enrolled in this study. Radioimmunoassay was performed for leptin on maternal venous and newborn cord blood. Leptin concentrations were measured in 43 children in Tanner stages 1 and 2 as a control group. Placental tissue was obtained from five mothers and assayed for leptin mRNA by reverse transcription/polymerase chain reaction (RT/PCR). Human placental cell lines JAR and JEG-3 were also assayed for leptin mRNA expression.

RESULTS
Leptin was present in all newborns studied at a mean concentration of 8.8 ng/mL (+/-9.6 standard deviations). Leptin concentrations in cord blood correlated with newborn weight (r = .51), body mass index (BMI) (r = .48), and arm fat (r = .42). There was no correlation between leptin and insulin. When statistically covarying for adiposity for newborns and Tanner stages 1 and 2 children, newborns had greater concentrations of leptin (mean, 10.57 ng/mL) than children (mean, 3.04 ng/mL). Leptin was present in all mothers at a mean value of 28.8 ng/mL (+/-22.2 standard deviations). Leptin concentration correlated with prepregnancy BMI (r = .56), BMI at time of delivery (r = .74), and arm fat (r = .73). Maternal leptin correlated with serum insulin (r = .49). There was no correlation between maternal and newborn leptin concentrations. Thirteen percent of newborns had higher leptin concentrations than their mothers. Placental tissue from five separate placentas expressed leptin mRNA at comparable or greater levels than adipose tissue. Two human trophoblastic placental cell lines, JAR and JEG-3, also expressed leptin mRNA.

CONCLUSIONS
The correlation between leptin and adiposity found in children and adults was also found in newborns. Serum leptin concentrations in newborns were increased more than three-fold compared with children in Tanner stages 1 and 2 when controlling for adiposity, suggesting that leptin concentrations in the newborn are not explained by adiposity alone. Maternal leptin concentrations correlated with measures of adiposity at delivery but did not correlate with newborn adiposity or leptin. Leptin mRNA was expressed both in placental tissue and in two human placental cell lines. These data suggest that leptin has a role in intrauterine and neonatal development and that the placenta provides a source of leptin for the growing fetus.


In the mature mammalian and avian central nervous systems, neuronal destructions are followed by reactive gliosis, but data on other vertebrates are rather controversial. Mammals and birds belong to different amniote groups (Synapsida and Diapsida, respectively), but exhibit common general features in their glial architecture, mainly the predominance of astrocytes. Two vertebrate groups seem to be in special positions of glial evolution: turtles (Testudiniformes) and skates and rays (Batoidea). The purely ependymoglial system of turtles seems to be the simplest one among the extant amniotes. In skates and rays, true astrocytes are preponderant glial elements, in contrast to the other "anamniotes" (and even to reptiles). We investigated stab wounds by the immunohistochemical detection of GFAP in turtles (Trachemys-formerly Pseudemys-scripta elegans), a skate (Raja clavata) and rays (Dasyatis akajei and Torpedo marmorata). Sharks (Scyliorhinus canicula) as ependymoglia-predominated chondrichthyans, and-for positive controls-rats were also studied. In the elasmobranchs, other astroglial markers: glutamine synthetase and S100 protein were also applied. Neither turtles nor elasmobranchs presented considerable astroglial reactions. Critically surveying the former reports on different vertebrates, these results complete the picture that typical post-lesion reactive gliosis is confined to mammals and birds. Analysis of the astroglial systems from phylogenetic perspective suggests that the capability of forming glial demarcation and scar formation evolved independently in mammals and birds. Predominance of astrocytes is a necessary condition but not sufficient for reactive gliosis. The intense glial reactivity of mammals and birds may be attributed to their complex cerebralization.


Sylvia Plath was one of the most gifted and innovative poets of the twentieth century, yet serious study of her work has often been hampered by a fierce preoccupation with her life and death. Tim Kendall seeks to redress the balance in his detailed and dispassionate examination of her poetry. Taking a roughly chronological structure, he traces the unique nature of Plath's poetic gift, finding - with reference to "Letters Home", "The Bell Jar", "The Journals" and the stories and autobiographical reminiscences - an essential unity in her inspiration, tracing the evolution of recurring themes and at the same time exhibiting her accelerated development from the formal restraint of "The Colossus" through to the ground-breaking techniques of "Ariel". He shows that Plath was a poet constantly remaking herself, experimenting with different styles, forms and subject matter.


I ntroduction. If physicians apply clinical rather than biomedical knowledge when diagnosing, why do we use the basic sciences as the foundation for clinical teaching? In this study we evaluated the contribution of biomedical knowledge to diagnostic performance when solving electrolyte problems. Method. We asked 13 medical students and 19 nephrologists to solve electrolyte problems while thinking aloud, and determined biomedical knowledge application by protocol analysis. We used logistic regression to study the association between biomedical concepts, clinical experience, and performance. Results. Students and nephrologists applied a similar number of biomedical concepts per case (1.8 (±1.1) vs. 1.8 (±1.2), respectively, p = 0.8), but nephrologists were more successful (86.8% vs. 63.5%, p = 0.003). We found a significant interaction between expertise and applying biomedical concepts ( p < 0.05). For students the odds of success increased significantly with applying biomedical concepts (odds ratio 4.66 [2.07, 10.48], p < 0.001), whereas for nephrologists there was only a trend towards improved performance (odds ratio 1.72 [0.94, 3.11], p = 0.07). Conclusions. Our results suggest that improving biomedical knowledge of students should improve their performance on electrolyte problems. The performance of experienced physicians may also be improved, but this requires further study before teaching recommendations can be made.


Rationale A widely applicable model of emphysema that allows efficient and sensitive quantification of injury is needed to compare potential therapies. Objectives To establish such a model, we studied the relationship between elastase dose and the severity of emphysema in female C57BL/6J mice. We compared alveolar fractal box dimension (DB), a new measure which is an assessment of the complexity of the tissue, with mean linear intercept (Lm), which is commonly used to estimate airspace size, for sensitivity and efficiency of measurement. Methods Emphysema was induced in female C57BL/6J mice by administering increasing intratracheal doses of porcine pancreatic elastase (PPE). Changes in morphology and static lung compliance (CL) were examined 21 days later. Correlation of DB with Lm was determined in histological sections of lungs exposed to PPE. The inverse relationship between DB and Lm was supported by examining similar morphological sections from another experiment where the development of emphysema was studied 1 to 3 weeks after instillation of human neutrophil elastase (HNE). Results Lm increased with PPE dose in a sigmoidal curve. CL increased after 80 or 120 U/kg body weight (P < 0.05), but not after 40 U/kg, compared with the control. DB progressively declined from 1.66 ± 0.002 (standard error of the mean) in controls, to 1.47 ± 0.006 after 120 U PPE/kg (P < 0.0001). After PPE or HNE instillation, DB was inversely related to Lm (R = −0.95, P < 0.0001 and R = −0.84, P = 0.01, respectively), with a more negative slope of the relationship using HNE (P < 0.0001). Conclusion Intratracheal instillation of increasing doses of PPE yields a scale of progression from mild to severe emphysema. DB correlates inversely with Lm after instillation of either PPE or HNE and yields a rapid, sensitive measure of emphysema after elastase instillation.


This review highlights work that, within the past decade, transformed mucosal immunophysiology from a hypothetical concept to a fully recognized interdiscipline. The regulation of epithelial and smooth muscle functions by the mucosal immune system represents an exquisitely sensitive adaptation to local antigenic challenge. Furthermore, immunologic cells communicate with nerves via paracrine secretions to rapidly transduce antigenic signals into panmucosal changes in function. These local immunocyte-nerve interactions are modulated by the autonomic and central nervous systems. Because of the common mucosal immune system, antigen-induced changes similar to those occurring in the intestine and colon are predicted to occur in mucosa of all hollow organs. The drawing together of fields as diverse as medicine and agriculture underscores the scope of areas encompassed by immunophysiology. Newly acquired knowledge has positioned the field to advance rapidly in both basic and applied directions. Forces that will remodel the field in the next decade will be derived from public concerns about human health maintenance and the explosive and novel use of new research tools stemming from molecular biology. These forces will draw on and advance our knowledge in areas as diverse as vaccine development and prevention of allergic reactions to foods, bioengineered foods in particular.


According to Dechow and Dichev (2002) and Lin and Wu (2014), a high degree of earnings management (EM) is associated with a poor quality of information. In this sense, it is possible to assume that the financial data of companies that manage earnings can present different patterns from those with low degree of EM. The aim of this exploratory study is to test whether a financial data set (operating expenses) of companies with high degree of EM presents bias. For this analysis, we used the model of Kothari and the modified model of Jones ("Dechow model" hereafter) to estimate the degree of EM, and we used the logarithmic distribution of data predicted by the Benford's Law to detect abnormal patterns of digits in number sets. The sample was composed of 845 international listed non-financial companies for the year 2010. To analyze the discrepancies between the actual and expected frequencies of the significant-digit, two statistics were calculated: Z-test and Pearson's chi-square test. The results show that, with a confidence level of 90%, the companies with a high degree of EM according to the Kothari model presented similar distribution to that one predicted by the Benford's Law, suggesting that, in a preliminary analysis, their financial data are free from bias. On the other hand, the data set of the organizations that manage earnings according to the Dechow model presented abnormal patterns. The Benford´s Law has been implemented to successfully detect manipulated data. These results offer insights into the interactions between EM and patterns of financial data, and stimulate new comparative studies about the accuracy of models to estimate EM. Keywords: Earnings management (EM). Financial Reporting Quality (FRQ). Benford's Law.


This thesis deals with the systematic development of mechanistic models of particulate processes for the purposes of nonlinear controller design and implementation.The methods investigated in this thesis were illustrated with an industrial hydrometallurgical process called the Silgrain® process (Elkem ASA), for which a model and a controller strategy have been developed from scratch.The class of processes studied in this thesis, particulate processes,has attracted and still attracts a great deal of interest from the international research community. Particulate processes are characterized by the presence of a continuous phase and a dispersed phase comprised of entities that have a distribution of properties. Such a distribution of properties has an important impact on the process operation and quality of the final products. Moreover, most of process industries contain one or more stages that involve particulate processes, among them the major Norwegian companies: Elkem, Hydro, Borealis, Statoil, etc.A systematic method to PBE modeling was suggested, consisting of the following stages: establishment of model purpose and model foundations, building of the model structure, determination of the constitutive relations, selection of a solution method, parameter estimation and model validation. Such an approach is general to any type of process, but when dealing with particulate processes special care should be placed on some of these stages. The method was thoroughly illustrated with the development of the model of the tworeactors of the Silgrain® process. The model was based on the traditional balance equations of mass, energy, and momentum, and on a balance of the distribution of properties, called the population balance equation (PBE). This is the first time PBE is used to model a hydrometallurgical leaching reactor where disintegration takes place. An experimental laboratory campaign had to be carried out in order to determine the constitutive equations of the disintegration event. Another experimental campaign at the plant level was carried out to gather data for parameter estimation and model validation. The results of the fitting were satisfactory. Besides the particular contribution of developing a detailed model for the case study, some general contributions of this research were:• it was shown how dividing the model into compartments according to the regions that are observed in practice in the reactors is key to obtaining realistic models;• it was discussed how the widely used assumption of complete mixing provides unrealistic models. Instead, the compartmentalization approach combined with a balance of forces on the entities to define the interflows among compartments improves the realism of PBE models to a great extent;• it was shown that the use of a systematic parameter identifiability analysis prior to parameter estimation can be very useful, and even essential. PBE models are large in size, typically nonlinear in the parameters, and many parameters may not be identifiable from theavailable measurements. Hence, if no parameter identifiability analysis is carried out, the parameter estimation algorithm may break down, or give very poor parameter estimates.An approach to process control called inventory passivity-based control was selected in this thesis, since this method handles nonlinear processes, is based on dynamic models, and it has suitable stability properties. In order to apply this method to particulate processes, the theory was extended in this thesis to handle rectangular systems, i.e. systems where the number of available manipulated variables is less than the number of inventories. Both chemical reaction networks and particulate processes fall under such a class of systems. An stability proof has been developed, by linking inventory passivity-based control to a relevant theory of nonlinear chemical dynamics, called the Feinberg Deficiency Theorems. In addition to stability, some other implementation issues were discussed in the thesis, such as the handling of constraints on the manipulated variables, the robustness of the controller against disturbances and model errors, the importance of observers, and the adaptation of the approach to semibatch control. Finally, the thesis also discussed the role of inventory passivity-based control within the framework of plantwide control, and the integration of inventory passivity-based control with a statistical process monitoring approach.


Design and build is a popular form of procurement worldwide. In its conventional form, it is characterised by the integration between design and construction. Novation, a variant of design and build where design responsibility is transferred from designer to contractor as procurement evolves, has gained in popularity. However, the characteristics of the process, although well identified, continue to create confusion and problems for clients and contractors alike. This paper focuses on the dynamics of design and build novation from the principal contractor's and architect's perspectives. It embraces key aspects of both the pre-contract and post-contract environment. Its contribution forms a part of a major UK Government funded research project investigating design and build best practice. The findings presented in this paper broadly indicate that contractors believe novated design and build can be disadvantageous and that considerable fragmentation can be created in what should be an integrated procurement approach.


Protecting homeland security against intentional attacks on homeland security is fundamentally different from protecting against accidents or acts of nature. In particular, an intelligent and adaptable adversary may adopt a different offensive strategy in response to our protective security measures, in order to circumvent or disable them. Game theory provides a way of taking this into account analytically. Thus, security can benefit from game-theoretic methods. This article discusses approaches for applying game theory to the problem of defending systems against attack. The results yield insights into the nature of optimal defensive investments.

Keywords:

homeland security;
game theory;
uncertainty;
resource allocation;
terrorism;
counterterrorism;
risk management


The common-law doctrine of equivalents extends a patent's protection to cover certain similar devices that do not literally infringe on the patent's claims. Broad application of this doctrine can, however, create uncertainty as to how substantial an improvement a competitor must make to avoid non-literal infringement. This uncertainty can chill innovation by exposing the would-be improver to potential liability for infringement under a claim of equivalency. The courts created another rule, prosecution history estoppel, to cabin the expansion of protection provided by the doctrine of equivalents. Prosecution history estoppel prevents a patentee from claiming the equivalents that it surrendered during the prosecution of its patent. Both the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court have grappled with articulating the factual situations in which a patent's specification and prosecution history precludes the added protection afforded by the doctrine of equivalents. Several opinions in these cases suggest that a patentee should not be able to invoke the doctrine of equivalents to obtain protection from equivalents that one skilled in the art would have reasonably foreseen before the patent issued. This paper examines a series of cases related to the applicability of foreseeability to the doctrine of equivalents. It then attempts to synthesize the current state of the law in the area, and analyzes arguments for and against adopting a foreseeability rule.


SPHERE (Spectro-Polarimetric High Contrast Exoplanet Research) is one of the first instruments which aim for the direct detection from extra-solar planets. SPHERE commissioning is foreseen in 2013 on the VLT. ZIMPOL (Zurich Imaging Polarimeter) is the high contrast imaging polarimeter subsystem of the ESO SPHERE instrument. ZIMPOL is dedicated to detect the very faint reflected and hence polarized visible light (600-900 nm) from extrasolar planets. It is located behind an extreme AO system (SAXO) and a stellar coronagraph. We present the first high contrast polarimetric results obtained for the fully integrated SPHERE-ZIMPOL system. We have measured the polarimetric high contrast performance of several coronagraphs: a Classical Lyot on substrate, a suspended Classical Lyot and two 4 Quadrant Phase Mask coronagraphs. We describe the impact of crucial system parameters – Adaptive Optics, Coronagraphy and Polarimetry - on the contrast performance.


Trichloroacetic acid peeling refers to a system whereby a corrosive chemical is applied to the skin. The resultant good effect is due to epidermal regeneration, as well as the regenerating of new collagen in the dermis. The technique of deep chemical peeling in treatment of actinic degeneration and acne scarring is presented.


A method for recovering metals from metals-containing wastes, a vitrifying the remainder of the wastes for disposal. Metals-containing wastes such as circuit boards, cathode ray tubes, vacuum tubes, transistors and so forth, are broken up and placed in a suitable container. The container is heated by microwaves to a first temperature in the range of approximately 300--800{degrees}C to combust organic materials in the waste, then heated further to a second temperature in the range of approximately 1000--1550{degrees}C at which temperature glass formers present in the waste will cause it to melt and vitrify. Low-melting-point metals such as tin and aluminum can be recovered after organics combustion is substantially complete. Metals with higher melting points, such as gold, silver and copper, can be recovered from the solidified product or separated from the waste at their respective melting points. Network former-containing materials can be added at the start of the process to assist vitrification.


Introduction: Little is known about the topographical distribution of pruriception (in particular for nonhistaminergic itch), although conditions with chronic itch frequently occur in distinct anatomic and often bilateral patterns. This study aimed to investigate regional differences in the sensitivity to itch stimuli by assessing the intensity of itch, pain, and cutaneous neurogenic flare evoked by histamine and cowhage in different anatomic regions in 20 healthy volunteers. Methods: Itch was induced by 1% histamine applied with a prick lancet or by insertion of 25±5 cowhage spicules in 4 regions: volar/dorsal forearm, lower back, and chin. The duration and intensity of itch and pain following each pruritic stimulus were measured by a continuous visual analogue scale (VAS0-100). Sensitivity to touch-evoked itch was assessed by von Frey filaments and cutaneous flare was quantified by full-field laser perfusion imaging. Results: Peak itch intensity was lower at the chin (19.4±3.6) compared with other areas (mean of 3 locations; 41.3±4.4), independently of whether histamine or cowhage was applied (P<0.01). Baseline sensitivity to touch-evoked itch was higher on the chin (P<0.01), but here hyperknesis did not develop in contrast to other areas (P<0.05). Cutaneous flare was more intense but had a smaller dispersion at the chin, compared with other areas (P<0.01). Discussion: In conclusion, sensitivity to histaminergic and non-histaminergic itch diverges considerably between body regions. Lower density of pruriceptive CMH and CMI-neurons or distinct neuronal substrates for itch in the mandibular part of the trigeminal area may explain the observed reduced itch and vasomotor responses.


This paper introduces a new configuration for a cascade (H-bridge) converter-based dynamic voltage regulator in which the basic cascade converter is supplemented with a shunt thyristor-switched inductor. The proposed topology is shown to possess the ability of mitigating a severe and long duration voltage sag with a significantly smaller energy demand from the cascade converter. A suitable control system is designed, and the operation of the new device is analyzed using electromagnetic transients simulation as well as mathematical analysis. Simulation and experimental results are presented to demonstrate the feasibility and the practicality of the proposed novel dynamic voltage restorer topology.


Under New York law at this time, non-resident taxpayers were only permitted state income tax deductions for expenses reasonably related to income earned in the state. Residents could deduct alimony payments, but non-residents could not because such expenses were considered wholly personal. Prior to being heard by the Supreme Court, Christopher Lunding argued that New York's favorable treatment of residents over non-residents violated the Privileges and Immunities Clause.

This article describes the parallels between New York's tax structure regarding alimony and that of the federal government. Section 1 explains New York's income tax system, which denies deductions to non-residents for personal expenses, but allows such deductions for residents. Section 2 provides background on the 1987 New York tax reform legislation that resulted in the current alimony rule. Section 3 details the legal issues in Lunding by analyzing the likely arguments of both parties. This section concludes by distinguishing Lunding from Austin v. New Hampshire, and determines that the New York alimony rule is reasonable and equitable to both non-residents and other states. The article concludes in Section 4 by asserting that New York's tax treatment of alimony is consistent with precedent, consistent with tax logic, and consistent with the Privileges and Immunities Clause.


BACKGROUND
Nurses are a high-risk group for presenteeism: When one is present at work but not fully engaged. Presenteeism can occur because of multiple work, personal, and event factors and is linked to negative nurse, patient, and organizational outcomes. A model that accounts for the multiple antecedents that lead to presenteeism, as well as its consequences, is needed.

OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to evaluate our proposed presenteeism in nursing model among registered nurses in the United States by examining the fit of the data with the model.

METHODS
Four hundred forty-seven registered nurses who provide direct patient care completed a cross-sectional survey on presenteeism, its antecedents and consequences, and demographics. Structural equation modeling was used to test relationships in the proposed model and overall model fit.

RESULTS
The presenteeism in nursing model holistically accounted for significant presenteeism antecedents and consequences. There were significant relationships between work environment, perceived stress and work-life balance, and presenteeism. There were also significant relationships between presenteeism and missed care, and burnout.

DISCUSSION
These relationships align with prior research and identify antecedents and consequences of presenteeism. This model can be used by practitioners and researchers to develop interventions addressing presenteeism to improve health system, nurse, and patient outcomes.


Flax fiber appears as a suitable feedstock in the endeavor of deploying a sustainable biobased economy. Its environmental performance as reinforcement in composite materials has been studied in previous Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs). However, these studies only present a coarse Life cycle Inventory (LCI) and often fail to detail all processes of the supply chain or to represent the co-products. This paper aims to bridge this gap and provide data for future LCAs on flax fiber production and transformation.The study focuses on the impacts of producing a bio-based reinforcement material (a fabric product for non-aesthetic purposes) with a system expansion perspective. The functional unit is defined as the production of 2400 m² flax-based technical textile per year, this corresponds to one hectare of cultivated land. The geographical scope considers that the production occurs in France and that some manufacturing process are outsourced in China. A Sensitivity Analysis was carried out to assess the influence of the electricity mix in the various countries involved in the manufacturing cycle.A detailed life cycle inventory for flax fiber production and transformation was built and the environmental performance of a flax technical textile was assessed as a cradle-to-gate LCA. The fate of co-products was documented and was shown to contribute to the reduction of the generated environmental impacts. Through a cradle-to-gate LCA, a broader understanding of the environmental performance of a flax-based technical textile was presented by including the valorization of co-products and a wider set of analyzed impact categories, going therefore beyond the existing state-of-the-art. Results show agricultural activities and electricity production to be the biggest contributors to the environmental impacts of flax technical textile; contributions due to land use changes were minor in comparison. Very specifically for this case study, a sensibility analysis showed the influence of an all-French production to be more efficient from an environmental point of view.


Data on 18 rich democracies 1968-87 show that job creation is mainly a product of demographic changes (age structure, net migration rates) and changes in social structure (the rate of family breakup as it relates to poverty and the history of female labor-force participation) -- clues to an increased supply of young and/or cheap labor. Job creation is unrelated to unemployment rates or other measures of economic performance and their causes; it comes at the cost of lower earnings growth and slower long-run productivity gains. If job creation is little affected by demand policies, the appropriate response is less boasting about employment gains and more attention to a strategy to reshape the supply and quality of labor -- e.g., active labor-market and education policies, a family policy, policies to reduce industrial conflict.


Offline reinforcement learning algorithms promise to be applicable in settings where a fixed dataset is available and no new experience can be acquired. However, such formulation is inevitably offline-data-hungry and, in practice, collecting a large offline dataset for one specific task over one specific environment is also costly and laborious. In this paper, we thus 1) formulate the offline dynamics adaptation by using (source) offline data collected from another dynamics to relax the requirement for the extensive (target) offline data, 2) characterize the dynamics shift problem in which prior offline methods do not scale well, and 3) derive a simple dynamics-aware reward augmentation (DARA) framework from both model-free and model-based offline settings. Specifically, DARA emphasizes learning from those source transition pairs that are adaptive for the target environment and mitigates the offline dynamics shift by characterizing state-action-next-state pairs instead of the typical state-action distribution sketched by prior offline RL methods. The experimental evaluation demonstrates that DARA, by augmenting rewards in the source offline dataset, can acquire an adaptive policy for the target environment and yet significantly reduce the requirement of target offline data. With only modest amounts of target offline data, our performance consistently outperforms the prior offline RL methods in both simulated and real-world tasks.


We were interested to read Dr W.G. Notcutt's letter (Anaesthesia, 1978, 33, 652), concerning Bier's block. For some time we have been using this technique with a Velcro tourniquet, or the hand of the anaesthetist, being used to limit the spread of the local anaesthetic agent to the affected area. This technique is very effective for the manipulation of fractures, when effective exsanguination of the limb is difficult to obtain, and the tourniquet is inflated for a short period only. The technique does, however, suffer two major drawbacks. Firstly, a large volume of local analgesic remains at the site of the operation, and when open procedures are being performed may result in a blood-stained ooze from the tissues. Secondly, a 'secondary tourniquet' prevents the spread of local analgesic up the arm, preventing analgesia below the lower cuff when a double cuff method is being employed. Both these disadvantages may be overcome by using an Esmarch's bandage on the limb once the analgesia has been obtained. This removes the volume of drug still in the veins from the operation site, and 'milks' it up the arm under the lower tourniquet. Alternatively, the arm may be elevated for 3-5 min once analgesia has been obtained, allowing gravity to spread the local anaesthetic.


Learning policies which are robust to changes in the environment are critical for real world deployment of Reinforcement Learning agents. They are also necessary for achieving good generalization across environment shifts. We focus on bisimulation metrics, which provide a powerful means for abstracting task relevant components of the observation and learning a succinct representation space for training the agent using reinforcement learning. In this work, we extend the bisimulation framework to also account for context dependent observation shifts. Specifically, we focus on the simulator based learning setting and use alternate observations to learn a representation space which is invariant to observation shifts using a novel bisimulation based objective. This allows us to deploy the agent to varying observation settings during test time and generalize to unseen scenarios. We further provide novel theoretical bounds for simulator fidelity and performance transfer guarantees for using a learnt policy to unseen shifts. Empirical analysis on the high-dimensional image based control domains demonstrates the efficacy of our method.


— The present study was carried out on the effect of biofertilizer Azotobacter chroococcumon the growth of mulberry plantMorusindica L. and larvalweight, cocoon weight, shell weight, shell ratio and effective rate of rearing (ERR) and length of silk filament of the Bombyxmori. Based on growth of mulberry plant, larval weight and the effect of Azotobacter biofertilizer on length of silk filament was more in treated and which was found to be statistically significant at P<0.05 level than control. Cocoon weight, shell ratio, shell weight and ERR were also in an elevated trend in treatment than the control (P<0.01) one. In the present study, the use of biofertilizer A.chroococcum has reduced man power and time duration and has also reduced the usage of chemical fertilizer which could curtail the expenses of the farmers.


This paper introduces the methods of integration of solar energy and low‐temperature solid oxide fuel cells. On the one hand, we design the system that integrates the solar photovoltaic cells and fuel cells. On the other hand, solar energy is concentrated to heat up the fuel cell and supply the working temperature at hundreds Celsius degrees by Fresnel lens. Then the fuel conversion efficiency is increased because of gain from the solar energy. Moreover, integration of solar thermal energy power system with the fuel is a good method for resolving the instability of solar energy. CHP (combined heat and power) is another aspect to enhance the design hybrid system overall efficiency. Finally, we present a novel device but built on different scientific principle. It can convert solar energy and chemical energy of fuel to electric energy simultaneously within the same device to integrated solar cell and fuel cell from the device level. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Background Gastrointestinal angiodysplasia (GIAD) may either be asymptomatic or induce overt or occult bleeding with a high risk of recurrence. Numerous therapeutic options are available but an evidence bass is lacking. Purpose To analyse costs and improve the clinical parameters in patients with GIAD after intramuscular administration of long-acting octreotide (Oc-LAR) 10 mg/month. Materials and Methods Retrospective observational study from January to December 2011. We reviewed the medical records of patients who were prescribed long-acting Octreotide for GIAD. Clinical data (haemoglobin, vials of iron needed, blood transfusions) and demographic characteristics of the patients were tabulated using Excel. We compared clinical results pre- and post-Oc-LAR use. The x2 test was used for category variables, and the t-test was used for continuous variables with normal distribution using SPSS statistical software. Clinical and monetary value were derived from publicly available data. The study perspective was from the hospital management point of view. Results 17 patients were included in the study, 11 were men and 6 women. The mean age was 75.2 years. The direct costs were €350 per red blood cell transfusion, €167 per iron administration and €694.95 for Oc-LAR. The mean Hb levels were 9.0 g/dl and 9.6 g/dl (p < 0.0001) before and after treatment. Blood transfusions decreased from 1.8 to 1.7 (P = 0.258). However iron requirements were higher after treatment started:. 2.5 vials of iron, up from 1.9 (P = 0.027). And there was an increase in hospital admissions annually 3.3 vs. 2.3 before treatment (P = 0.311). So Oc-LAR use increased the average annual cost per patient by 8,401.6€ without stopping disease progression. Conclusions Pharmacological treatments are typically considered in refractory cases of endoscopic failure and recurrent bleeding. Oc-LAR seems to be more suitable in terms of efficacy and tolerance according to the bibliography. However, our study shows that Octreotide long-acting formulation treatment was not cost effective and failed to stop the natural evolution of the disease. No conflict of interest.


The purpose of this paper is to develop a simple new model, based on the classic molecular dynamics simulation (MD), alternative to complex electron-photon interactions to analyze the surface texturization of solar cells. This methodology can easily propose the absorptance differences between texturing and nontexturing solar cells. To verify model feasibility, this study simulates square, pyramidal, and semicircular texturization surfaces. Simulations show that surface texturization effectively increases the absorptance of incident light for solar cells, and this paper presents optimal texturization shapes. The MD model can also be potentially used to predict the efficiency promotion in any optical reflection-absorption cases.


Explaining consistent variation in the behaviour of individuals in terms of personality differences is one of the cornerstones of understanding human behaviour but is seldom discussed in behavioural ecology for fear of invoking anthropomorphism. Recently, however, interest has begun to focus on identifying personality traits in animals and examining their possible evolutionary consequences. One major axis used to define personality traits is the shyness–boldness continuum. We examined boldness in an in situ experiment using fish from eight populations of the poeciliid Brachyraphis episcopi (also referred to as Brachyrhaphis episcopi). Fish from high- and low-predation regions within four streams that run independently into the Panama Canal were tested. Boldness scores were strongly influenced by standard length and the relative level of predation pressure in the rivers. In all four rivers, fish from high-predation areas were bolder than those from low-predation areas. Fish became increasingly shy as they grew. to titrate energy intake individuals foraging prey species, complete recklessness shyness–boldness


The aim of the study was the assessment of the protein-vitamin correction of the food ration of student-athletes in the precompetitive period The relevance of nutritional support was determined by irrational and unbalanced nutrition and comorbidities in students, not infrequently due to insufficient material support of students, the schedule drawn up without taking in account their biorythmological activity. Enrichment of the diet of student-athletes was performed with the use of normoprotein--dry composite protein mixture (DCPM) in daily dose of 30 g). Normoprotein is a source of highly digestible proteins, dietary fibers, vitamins, minerals, taxifolin, which is recommended, also for the dietary (medical and preventive) nutrition of children in organized collectives. A prerequisite for the administration of the drug was the assessment of the health in 50 student-athletes in the Health Center questioning of students for the acquisition of information concerning the presence or absence of complaints, allergic reactions, evaluation of the life quality, and also written consent for the use of normoprotein.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to empirically test whether a systematic relationship exists between firms' level of entrepreneurial marketing (EM) behaviours and firms' characteristics, including firm age, firm size and firm's founder.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper quantitatively investigates EM behaviours from data collected from 752 business owners through structured interviews. The data analysis applied was multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (multi-group CFA).

Findings

Results from the analysis show that not all of the firms' characteristics determine firms' level of EM practice. The level of EM behaviours has a systematic relationship with firms' age but not with the founding status of the firms' manager. The impact of firm size on the level of EM behaviours is evident only when the firms' age is taken into account.

Research limitations/implications

This paper concludes that relationships between EM behaviours and firm characteristics are more complicated than anticipated. Firms' characteristics alone may not be a good measure for identifying the level of a firm's EM. EM cannot be conceptualized solely in relation to the activities of small firms, young firms or founder-operated firms.

Originality/value

This paper examines EM behaviours in a large survey and uses multi-group CFA to examine firms' EM practice through latent variables, instead of observed variables. The findings should complement knowledge regarding the EM concept generated from existing literature.


The occurrence of therapist-couple struggle versus cooperation has been empirically linked to specific negative outcomes in therapy. No study, however, has yet investigated therapist-offered treatment process as it related to struggle versus cooperation. This study operationalized Murray Bowen's construct of promotion of responsibility in an indirect therapist style and contrasted it with a direct therapist style in an experimental design. In counterbalanced order, 25 couples in therapy were exposed to 12 minutes of a direct therapist style and 12 minutes of an indirect therapist style during one regular therapy session. After reviewing a videotape of the first therapist style episode, couples reported on their perceptions of struggle, cooperation, and responsibility within that therapist style. The same procedure was then followed for the second episode. Results indicated moderate support of hypothesized effects. Responsibility was higher and struggle was lower within an indirect therapist style. No difference in cooperation was found between therapist styles. A consistent inverse association was found between responsibility and struggle within both direct and indirect therapist styles, and a positive association was found between responsibility and cooperation within an indirect therapist style. Yet results indicated that significant proportions of the variance in struggle and cooperation are not explained by therapist style. Additional analyses were conducted to eliminate alternative explanations of the differences observed between the direct an indirect therapist style conditions. Some potential confounds to interpretation of therapist style effects were found. The findings suggest that an indirect therapist style, as represented by use of enactments (behavioral rehearsal), accommodation (couples' language and interaction patterns), and inductive process (eliciting dialogue and absence of direct teaching), relate to couples' experience of less therapist-couple struggle and a higher sense of personal responsibility for the outcome of therapy.


Background Gout is the most prevalent form of inflammatory arthritis and its prevalence is increasing. A EULAR task force has recently set the biochemical target of serum uric acid (sUA) at <6.0 mg/dL, similar to ACR1. Recent studies show that over 50% of gout patients do not reach the biochemical target with limited options of ULT, and lack of tight control and treat to target strategy2,3,4. Objectives The aim of this study is to evaluate the remission rate and ULT used to reach remission in our cohort of gout patients. Methods For this retrospective descriptive study we analysed 110 randomly selected gout patients diagnosed and treated in our hospital between 2009 and 2013. Patients were treated in daily clinical care targeting a sUA <6mg/dL (<0.36mmol/L). According to the Dutch health legislations during the study period, which allowed a free availability of allopurinol and benzbromaron, but no health insurance coverage for febuxostat. Combination therapy of allopurinol and benzbromaron was allowed when necessary to reach sUA target. The inclusion criterion was microscopical proof of monosodium urate (MSU) crystals in synovial fluid or tophus aspirate. Exclusion criteria were missing essential data (baseline serum uric acid and index date) and a follow up of less than 9 months. Index date was defined as the date of diagnosis. Remission was defined according the EULAR biochemical criterion as a sUA <6mg/dL (<0.36mmol/L) plus an attack free period of at least 3 months. Results Of 110 patients, 12 did not meet the inclusion criterion. Nine were excluded because of lack of data and 11 patients were excluded because they had a follow up of less than 9 months. Among the 78 patients included in our analysis most were men (86%) and the mean age was 62 years (range 35-85, SD 12,36). Within a one year period 45 patients (58%) achieved remission. Eventually 65 patients (83,3%) achieved remission. Of the patients achieving remission 45 (69,2%) were treated with allopurinol monotherapy, 11 patients (16,9%) with a combination of allopurinol and benzbromaron, 6 patients (9,2%) with benzbromaron monotherapy and 3 patients (4,6%) were treated with febuxostat. There were no significant differences between the remission and no-remission group regarding age, creatinine clearance or sUA at baseline. Conclusions Over 80% of gout patients in our cohort achieved remission with first-line medication consisting of allopurinol and/or benzbromaron. This remission rate is high when compared with other cohorts due to sUA level targeted therapy and if necessary combining two modes of action. We think that even higher remission percentages are feasible when patients will be treated by tight control treatment protocols that also allow the use of novel pharmaceutical preparations. References Richette P, Doherty M, Pascual E, et al. Updated EULAR evidence-based recommendations for gout. Part II: management. EULAR ARD 2014. Doherty M, Jansen TL, Nuki G, et al. Gout: why is this curable disease so seldom cured? ARD 2012; 10.1136/ard-2012-201687. Singh J et al. EULAR 2012. poster FRI0383. Disclosure of Interest A. Wennemers: None declared, I. Meek: None declared, R. Bakker: None declared, T. Janssen Grant/research support from: Novartis, Sobi, Consultant for: Astra, Menarini